Boban No Certainty To Take Place In Expressway Stakes Field

Trainer Chris Waller has revealed that triple Group 1 winner Boban will likely be removed from the 2015 Expressway Stakes field is the Rosehill Gardens track is not upgraded to at least a soft six before the start of the meeting tomorrow.

Boban has not been seen at the races since he failed to defend his title in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 4, but he made up good ground late in a barrier trial over 800 metres at Warwick Farm on January 8 and impressed onlookers with his win in a barrier trial over 900 metres at Rosehill Gardens on January 20.

Waller is thrilled with the way that Boban has returned from the spelling paddock, but admits that the Bernardini gelding is not at his best on rain affected surfaces and would be saved for another race if the Rosehill Gardens track did not improve substantially ahead of the running of the 2015 Expressway Stakes.

“Boban is very well and is obviously the class runner,” Waller said.

“It is just whether he gets the track to suit and we will have to make a decision in the morning whether he runs.

“He won the Chipping Norton on a soft five and on that basis I think that we would run on a six, but if it was a seven in the morning without any chance of upgrade we would probably wait.

“It is a hard one, but we are trying to get a run into him and trying to make sure that he is competitive.

“It is tough when they know they are suspect on the ground, but he has come back really well from his spell.”

Boban made his racing debut when he finished ninth on a rain affected track at Sandown in February of 2012 and he has shown on a number of occasions that he is unable to perform at his best on a wet surface.

He finished a disappointing ninth on a wet track in the 2013 edition of the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1400m) and he never looked comfortable when he finished seventh in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens in March last year.

Boban has not recorded a race win since he took out the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm last year and missed the placings in his four race starts in the spring after bleeding when he finished towards the tail of the field in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 19.

Author: Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.